That’s right, Jack! That’s right.
The year of our Lord 2020 continues to take many of our greatest human treasures. We loss a giant in the incomparable Rev C. T. Vivian. He was a chief lieutenant in the civil rights movement, founded and developed the upward bound program, and was the epitome of what most men hope to be, a scholar and a gentleman.
We need you to pick up someone and bring them to Selma.
I first met Rev. C. T. in 2000. I was living in Selma, Alabama and would routinely spend weekends in Atlanta, GA to get that “city life” out of my system. Word got to the team in Selma that I was in Atlanta and someone at the National Voting Rights Museum had the brilliant idea to “see if Batman can pick up someone and bring them to Selma”. Always willing to oblige, and I was headed back anyway, so it only made sense. I was given the name and phone number of the person that I was to pick up, but it didn’t connect in my mind who I was actually picking up. Rev. C.T. Vivian’s friends affectionately referred to him as simply “C.T.”. At the time all I thought is I was just going to pick up somebody by the nickname “C. T.”. We spoke on the phone as I informed him that I was on the way to pick him up and I immediately noticed that I was indeed speaking to an older gentleman. It was quite a shock as I was expecting someone close to may age, of course with the name like C. T.
The entire drive to his house, it never quite dawned on me who I was picking up. I arrive at the well manicured home and I’m greeted by that smile that is unique to only Rev. C. T. Immediately I’m embarrassed because there’s no reason that I couldn’t make the connection, there’s only one C.T. I’ll just blame it on the excessive partying I indulged on a weekend in Atlanta in the year 2000… but there’s no excuse for the failure to put one and one together. In any event, Rev C. T. Vivian welcomed me into his home. After our brief introductions, we engaged in the run-of-the-mill small talk. In retrospect, I’m quite sure he was probing me to get to know if I had some modicum of sense, or at least enough sense to drive us safely to Selma and back. The conversation turned more academic once I informed him I was a graduate of Morehouse College. Now we had to go to the library!
The Rev C. T. Vivian library is the envy of any academician and something that he was quite proud of. The light that permeated his face when he explained to me that, “young man, you gotta have the first edition and signed by the author. That’s right, Jack. That’s right”. The man literally had a library full of leather bound, first edition, author signed… books. Signed by some of the most esteemed authors of our time. This was impressive to even the most passive of readers and far more superior than these paperbacks that I have in my office… but it gives me something to aspire to. After what was supposed to be a quick pick up and go turned into a nearly two hour tour through some of the best books in American literary history, we were finally primed and ready for the 4 hour drive to the historic city of Selma, AL. There’s one slight inconvenience that I failed to tell the good folks at the voting rights museum, my car has some squeaking bad brakes and I’m likely 2 months overdue for brake pads and, due to neglect, likely rotors, too. You see, at the time, how my bank account worked was… I was broke. I would put off the important and take calculated risks and hold out to the very last minute to fix problems, like brake pads. In my mind, hey I could use the emergency brake for while until I got the money. Never mind that I’ve probably spent brake money partying up in Atlanta on a female hunt several times over. I was young, really dumb, and in the scarcity trap.
Well, Rev. C.T. Vivian and I get in the car and immediately you can hear the grinding of the brakes. I notice his unease and I state the obvious that, “I need to replace the brake pads”. He says, “yeah Jack, you need to get that fixed”. He didn’t bail out as he probably should have. I guess he was giving me the benefit of the doubt and more especially he was a man of faith, but faith only goes so far. With Benefit of the doubt and faith in tow, we were off and headed down 85 south in a car with bad brakes.
Killing me softly only to get me right
If you’ve ever done a road trip, you know it’s a great opportunity to get to know someone. Especially if there are only two of you in the car. Here I am locked in a car on a 4 hour drive with one of the pillars of the Civil Rights Movement and a tremendous intellectual heavyweight. It wasn’t long before our conversation turned to all of the things that I rarely discuss in the public sphere, politics, religion, etc. Although we may think highly of our abilities, it’s so obvious when we’re outclassed. I thought I had Rev. C. T. Vivian on the ropes when we discussed the book of Job from the Bible and how I couldn’t understand how God could ruin a man’s life over a bet with the Devil. “Make sense of that”? In a masterful display of the rope a dope that would make Muhammad Ali envious, I was disarmed and dissected in a way that has forever changed my understanding and approach in life. His comeback, “It’s a great story, young man don’t be so consumed with the gotcha that you miss what is ultimately being conveyed in the teaching”. Wow! I had to examine what it is that I ultimately wanted to achieve in my argument. Am I looking to disrupt for disruption sake? Or am I truly trying to gain an understanding that will improve my relationship with the Most High? What Rev. C. T. Vivian didn’t do was attack my argument under the premise that I took the Job story from a literal sense. He gave me more credit than that, he locked in on what I ultimately wanted to gain from the gospels. Yes, he ate my lunch the whole ride. There were so many gems dropped during that ride. In regard to my exploits with ladies, “young man if you keep doing what cha doing, you’ll keep getting what cha got. That’s right, Jack. You gotta change what cha doin’”. I had 4 hours of this in which many of my “sticking points” were questioned and I had to consider a different perspective or process through a different lens. The ultimate takeaway: don’t want to just be right, want to get it right.
Rev. C.T. Vivian’s last stroll through Auburn Ave.
A life it pursuit of getting it right
After our trip to Selma, AL, Rev. C. T. insisted the kind folks at the National Voting Rights Museum arrange for a rental car for us to drive back to Atlanta. I got a chance at another 4 hours with Rev. C. T., this time in the comfort of a vehicle with adequate brakes. That road trip with Rev. C. T. Vivian left an indelible stain on my mind. In that 8 hour road trip I was able to gain insight into what drove this Titan of a Man. He wanted to get it right! Not just for him, he wanted to get it right for those that were to come after him. That would mean he would have to help America strive to get it right. Getting it right requires that we face social issues and not retreat to the feel-good mantra “we’re the greatest country on earth”. Nor does getting in right allow us to put our head in the sand or make excuses for what we know are intolerable injustices. Getting it right appeals to more than winning a debate, it demands we challenge our default settings and examine another’s sensibilities. In essence, getting it right requires that we treat others as we would like to be treated and truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Should we do that, our immediate response to the phrase “Black Lives Matter” isn’t “All Lives Matter”. We can’t assume the antagonist position for antagonist sake. We must see beyond ourselves and meet people where they are. In these times of social media, we’re all resigned to our silos and echo chambers wherein the antagonist gets the most likes. History doesn’t reward these perpetuators of needless antagonism appealing to our lowest common denominator, It rewards those who prod us in the direction of higher ideals. What does it profit a man to win an argument but lose his soul? If you want to have lasting impact and be fondly thought of, follow the Rev. C. T. Vivian model. Try your best to “get it right” and you’ll live beyond the moment and hopefully cement a great name for yourself. That’s right, Jack.